Arlington Entrepreneurs

Arlington Entrepreneurs is lucky to have a large number of motivated and talented members. You’ve stepped up to the plate more than once and have made our network all that much better. There are very few organizations that represent the needs of freelance, self-employed workers. Arlington Entrepreneurs is trying to help fill that gap, with opportunities for networking, information sharing and more.

We’re a volunteer organization and, as such, we rely on volunteers to help keep things running. Our Advisory Board volunteers its time and expertise. Others pitch in when and where needed: answering questions and offering suggestions and help on an as-needed basis. All our event presenters are volunteers, too.

Maureen Igoe

Volunteers are going to be hosting two events this fall: an upcoming happy hour in October, along with a coffee break in early November. Maureen Igoe, of Ameriprise, will be our guest host at our fall Happy Hour at Menotomy Grill and Tavern. Maureen has been a long-standing supporter of our network and is also a Premium member. She has a busy life as a financial advisor and mother of a teen aged daughter.

Laura Bergamini

Laura Bergamini will be guest-hosting an early November Coffee Break, this time at Cafe Nero in Arlington Center. Originally from Italy, Laura is a technical translator between Italian and English. She’s also a volunteer member of the Arlington Entrepreneurs Advisory Board.

There are other projects that could use your help. An Events Committee would be a wonderful resource, particularly now that we have spaces to hold meetings, social gatherings and networking events (many thanks to AE Advisory Board member Debra Woog for that idea).

We could also use a Tech Committee, to help develop more web-based resources for our community. For example, Arlington Entrepreneurs is part of a WordPress multi-site installation. That installation could produce a number of web-based products: starter websites for new businesses, wikis, forums, media showcase galleries and more. The AE multi-site includes detailed instructional videos, which would help the non-technical among us navigate the WordPress landscape. Of course, today’s tech volunteer could be tomorrow’s paid tech consultant, either on or off of the AE WordPress installation!

These are only two ideas. Do you have any more (marketing, writing, health activities, etc?). Volunteer work is not necessarily a one-way process. Many people have gained new clients after making a presentation, for example. More hands on-board could also mean more income for the network, too. Part of that income could be shared with the hands that brought it in (that means you!).

We hope to see you at an upcoming event this fall. Fill out the (very) brief survey below if you’d like to participate in – or learn about – any type of volunteer activity. We’d love to hear from you!